The Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks recently announced the three newest inductees to the Howard County Community Sports Hall of Fame: Will Brewington, Wilma Moran-Wylie and Wendell Thomas.
All three have made an impact coaching in and growing different sports in the Howard County community. The Hall of Fame “honors outstanding individuals for their commitment or notable contribution to sports in Howard County.” The induction ceremony will be held Oct. 15 at the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center.
“The time, energy and dedication put forth by these three inductees is a testament to what makes Howard County’s athletic community and sports programming so great,” Howard County executive Calvin Ball said in a news release. “I would like to thank these inductees for their commitment to inspiring, improving and always encouraging our younger residents to get up, get out and get active.”
Thomas has worn many coaching hats throughout Howard County coaching soccer, lacrosse, wrestling, volleyball, cross country and indoor track and field. He started the boys soccer program at Atholton in 1978 and helped coach soccer with Howard County Rec and Parks.
Thomas also coached boys and girls club lacrosse for over 15 years with Hero’s and 20 years at the high school level. The longtime coach received the “Man of the Year” honor from his fellow Howard County lacrosse coaches twice throughout his tenure.
Outside of high school sports, Thomas also coaches a Special Olympics volleyball team in Howard County. Early in his teaching tenure, Thomas had an opportunity to work with special education students. He felt great satisfaction watching those Special Olympics athletes grow and develop their skills in the same ways as other student-athletes.
“It’s just been very rewarding,” Thomas said, “just watching the kids develop and grow in relationships. I’ve been retired for two years now from coaching, although I’m still involved with the parks and rec program and other programs associated with rec and parks lacrosse. It sort of keeps you young. It’s been a very rewarding experience watching kids develop, especially learning a new sport that many of them have not been exposed to.”
Brewington is the father of Oakland Mills track and field coach Chris Brewington. However, Will’s impact comes from coaching a different sport: rugby.
Will traveled throughout the United States and the world playing rugby. He’s spearheaded the growth of the sport in Howard County and started the Ellicott City Express youth rugby team in 1999 when his sons were 8 and 10. The program has expanded immensely in the 25 years since its inception and interest in the sport has spawned another team, the Howard County Hurricanes. Roughly 200 athletes between the two programs participated this past season.
In 2001, the Ellicott City Express became a registered program through Howard County Recreation and Parks. Under Brewington’s coaching, the program quickly developed into one of the top youth rugby teams in Maryland. It expanded with the help of two key administrators, Richard Popper and Shaun Western, an old teammate of Brewington’s on the Maryland Old Boys Rugby Club.
When the Express first started there were only two teams, U11 and U15. However, this year the program had 125 kids, and now fields U7, U9, U11, U13 and U16 teams. In 2014, Will left the Ellicott City Express to coach the Rocky Gorge Men’s Club. However, he returned in 2021 and is currently coaching the program’s youngest athletes on the U7 team, which this past year fielded 17 players, its largest number yet.
“It’s an honor. I look at it more in this instance as a way to promote the game,” Will said. “To raise the profile of rugby, you got to start somewhere. It’s been a big part of my life and it’s been very good to me. It’s just rewarding to introduce these kids and families to this great game. It’s a short season, only June-July.”
Will is excited about the club’s continued growth as more and more players are coming out each season through word of mouth. With the United States women’s sevens rugby team’s bronze medal performance in the 2024 Olympics and the Rugby Men’s and Women’s World Cup held in the U.S. in 2031 and 2033, Brewington is hopeful that more young athletes will be attracted to join the program.
“It’s great offseason training for any other sport,” he said. “It gives kids something to do during the summer. It’s continuing to grow and that’s the goal, to grow the sport.”
Moran-Wylie left her mark coaching soccer as part of the Soccer Association of Columbia. She vividly remembers when her 12-year-old son came home one day from SAC practice and said he didn’t know if he wanted to play anymore after several seasons. Moran-Wylie asked her son, “What can I do?” He promptly replied, “You can coach me.”
She was a physical education major in college and quickly took all of the necessary coaching certifications and coached her son until he reached high school. Without a child in SAC anymore, Moran-Wylie thought she would stop coaching. However, she missed it too much and has continued coaching for the last 26 years. Outside of coaching, Moran-Wylie served as an age-group coordinator for SAC since 2010 and as the vice president of the recreation program since 2015.
The veteran coach has formed long-standing relationships with past and current players and has fallen in love with the teaching aspect of coaching.
“I just love coaching. I love the kids,” Moran-Wylie said. “I love the interaction. They always kid you that your kids keep you young and I think there’s truth to that. They keep me active and engaged. It’s just very fulfilling to feel like you can relate to kids no matter what the age. It’s a great opportunity.”
However, Moran-Wylie also takes great pride in her unique perspective as a female that coaches boys soccer.
“I also think it’s important that boys have the opportunity to work under a female coach because it’s a different voice, attitude and everything,” she said. “It means the world to me. If you look back on your life when you’re old and say, ‘What did you do?’ I honestly feel like that’s the contribution that I can say. I made a difference and that means the world to me.”